Steinberger Sound Corporation

Gibson Guitar Corp.

Other

Steinberger Design

Gibson Brands, Inc.

Ned Steinberger

Emmett H Chapman

A tremolo mechanism having a novel roller mounted beneath a tensioned string of a stringed musical instrument is described. During oscillatory movement, the tensioned string exerts both a static and a vibratory force on the roller. The roller rotates in relation to the tensioned string such that the static force is generally greater than any component of the vibratory force. The novel roller may be a saddle roller with a saddle block having two opposing block walls which form a roller cavity. The block walls each have a roller bore aligned along a roller axis. The saddle roller includes a cylindrical body attached to a roller pin and a circumferential seat receiving a tension string. The roller pin is rotatably disposed such that the saddle roller is in the saddle block cavity. The roller axis extends obliquely to define an oblique roller angle.

Tremolo mechanism for a stringed musical instrument with pivoting string anchor

Tremolo mechanism for a stringed musical instrument with angled saddle rollers

The tremolo mechanism includes a novel cam actuated lock having a plurality of parallel locking channels disposed on an engagement surface of a movable locking arm and further having a locking ridge disposed on an engagement surface of a locking block so as to be in aligned opposition with the locking channels. Each pairing of locking channels is separated by a chromatic spacing distance corresponding to a chromatic half step change in the pitch of the plurality of tensioned strings. The lock of the further including a cam actuated torsion bar to positioning the locking arm according to a cam follower's position on a cam profile. The torsion bar provides a flexible means of applying a motive force for moving the locking arm such that, with the locking ridge and a selected locking channel misaligned and the cam follower disposed upon the locked seat, the torsion bar elastically deforms as the locking ridge is received by a land disposed between the locking channels without damaging the lock. Further, any additional transverse movement of the locking arm relative to the locking block causes the locking ridge to slide across the land and seat into an adjacent locking channel.

Tremolo mechanism for a stringed musical instrument with cam actuated lock

A joint between a neck and a body of a stringed musical instrument is described, wherein a neck receiving cavity in the body has a sloped major bearing surface. The sloped major bearing surface urges the neck laterally into a side surface of the neck receiving cavity as a connector pulls the neck into the neck receiving cavity. By urging the neck into a side surface of the neck receiving cavity, a second bearing surface is made in a different plane than the major bearing surface, which makes a more rigid joint between the body and the neck of the musical instrument.

Musical instrument sloped neck joint

An open-string damper for stringed musical instruments, especially those played with a string-tapping technique, utilizes an elongated rectangular metal shift bar mounted in a transverse channel running across the fretboard of the instrument, located between the first fret and the nut. The shift bar, fitted with a pad of damping material on its top side facing the underside of the strings, is mounted in a constrained manner extending to both sides of the fingerboard so that it can be grasped between a thumb and finger and shifted by the user between two stable locations: an engaged location wherein the damping material is urged upwardly against the strings and a disengaged location wherein the damping material is held away from the strings. In one concept, the shift bar is captivated in an inclined plane system that moves the shift bar against the strings in response to user-actuation of the shift bar along the inclined plane which can be configured in either the shift bar or in the transverse channel in the fretboard. In another concept the shift bar is spring loaded and configured with at least one recessed keyhole slot that in the disengaged position holds the shift bar away from the strings by engagement of slot portion of a keyhole opening with the head of a screw driven into the fretboard; to engage the damper the shift bar is moved to allow the screw head to enter the large opening of the keyhole, where the spring loading then presses the shift bar and its damping material upward against the strings. In either concept, the shift bar can be designed to be actuated by movement in a lateral, longitudinal or other direction.

Disengagable string damper for a musical instrument

Front face of a tuner display panel

A chromatic tuner display is provided for indicating a relative difference between a pitch of a sound and a pitch of a desired note of a musical scale. The display comprises a base member, a predetermined point on the base member corresponding to the pitch of the desired note, and a colored light arrangement for visually representing the pitch of the sound. The colored light arrangement is mounted on the base member and includes a plurality of illuminative letters corresponding to notes of the musical scale, and a plurality of additional illuminative characters positioned on the base member between adjacent letters corresponding to sharp and flat variations of the notes represented by the letters. An illuminated letter or an illuminated letter and character combination represents the desired note. The colored light arrangement also includes a plurality of opposing pairs of colored light devices for visually indicating whether the sound is above or below the pitch of the desired note, each light device within a given opposing pair being disposed on an opposite side of the predetermined point from the other light device within the given opposing pair. Each opposing pair has a specified color for visually indicating the relative difference in the pitch of the sound from the desired note. The colored light arrangement may indicate whether the note corresponding to the pitch of the sound is a standard guitar note or a non-standard guitar note, and may also indicate whether the pitch of the sound is within a first predetermined range from the desired pitch smaller than a second predetermined range of about .+-.2 to 3 cents from the desired note.

Chromatic tuner display providing guitar note and precision tuning

A stringed musical instrument includes a solid body having a length and a width. The body has a top surface shaped so that a widthwise cross section through the body intersects the top surface along a line defining a continuous convex curve, and so that a lengthwise cross section through the body intersects the top surface along a straight line. A wood veneer layer is bonded to the top surface.

Curved top solid body guitar

A chromatic tuner display comprises a base member, with a predetermined point on the base member corresponding to the precise pitch of a desired musical note. The display includes colored light means mounted on the base member for visually representing the pitch of a sound, including a plurality of illuminative letters ordered for corresponding to the notes of the musical scale, a plurality of additional illuminative characters positioned on the base member between adjacent letters for corresponding to sharp and flat variations of the lettered musical notes, and a plurality of colored light devices, the devices including a plurality of opposing pairs of ascending and descending light devices on opposite sides of the predetermined point, each opposing pair having specified color for visually indicating whether a musical sound is above or below the pitch of the musical note represented by an illuminated letter or letter and character combination, and for visually indicating the relative difference in pitch of the musical sound from the desired musical note.

Chromatic tuner display

A single screw clamping tuner is provided for clamping and tuning a string of a stringed musical instrument. The tuner includes one and only one externally threaded screw which accomplishes both the clamping of a string end and the tuning of the string. The tuner includes a housing having a channel defined therein. A slider is slidably received in the channel and receives the string end therein. The one and only one screw has a first portion threadably engaged with the slider for clamping the string end against the slider. A tuning knob is threadably engaged with the one and only one screw for adjusting a position of the screw and the slider relative to the housing when the tuning knob is rotated relative to the housing to tune the string. An integral wrench carried by the tuning knob is selectively engagable with a head of the screw for rotating the screw relative to the slider to clamp or unclamp the string end against the slider.

String tuner

Combined violin, shoulder pad and chin rest

A gearless tuner for a stringed musical instrument comprises a generally cylindrical housing for mounting on the instrument including an axial opening extending therethrough; a knob core sized for insertion into the axial opening in the housing including a threaded aperture extending axially therethrough and an annular ring for interacting with the housing to maintain the knob core in the housing; and an elongated slider extending into the axial opening of the housing and axially threaded into the aperture for securing one end of a string of the instrument and drawing the string into the housing when the knob core is rotated with respect to the housing to tension the string, including a string opening through the slider substantially parallel to the direction of the string on the instrument for receiving the string, and locking means both for allowing the slider to move axially with respect to the housing and preventing the slider from rotating with respect to the housing.

Gearless tuner

A tuning peg for a stringed musical instrument comprises a cylindrical housing adapted to be mounted on a stringed musical instrument. The housing has a central chamber, an axially extending slot and a shearing surface. A slider is positioned within the central chamber and has a key projecting into the slot for allowing the slider to move axially relative to the housing and for preventing rotation of the slider relative to the housing. One end of the slider has a transverse aperture for receiving a string, a screw for clamping the string in the aperture and a shearing surface proximate to the aperture and the shearing surface on the housing. A knob is threaded on the other end of the slider. The knob is rotatable relative to the housing but is prevented from axial movement relative to the housing such that rotation of the knob moves the slider in the axial direction to tune the string and shear the string between the shearing surfaces.

Tuning peg

A support for defining an end point of the vibrating portion of the strings of a stringed musical instrument comprises a base having a slot with walls which converge to an apex line. At least one rocker has walls which converge to a knife edge complementary to the apex line, where the angle between the walls of the base is larger than the angle between the walls of the rocker to allow the rocker to rock in the slot while the knife edge engages the apex line. The rocker has an arc-shaped surface centered at the knife edge for contacting at least one of the strings and moving with the string in a direction along the length of the string while maintaining the end point of the vibrating position of the string at a constant position relative to the base in the direction along the length of the string.

Growing community of inventors

New Windsor, NY, United States of America

Ned Steinberger